“We have spoken with NASCAR and will continue to keep an open dialogue with them on this matter, but we will keep those discussions between the parties involved,” the statement said. “We will fully support Denny in his appeal process.”

While waiting out the rain Friday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the buzz in the NASCAR garage was the fine, which Hamlin has protested and said he would appeal.

NASCAR officials would not say which comments Hamlin was fined for, but Hamlin said Thursday that it was for saying that the new Gen-6 car did not race as well as the previous car — the “car of tomorrow,” or COT.

Hamlin vowed not to pay the fine and said he would appeal. While drivers didn’t criticize Hamlin for the remarks, they weren’t too critical of NASCAR either, possibly at the risk of being fined themselves.

“At the end of the day, I know whose sandbox I’m playing in,” said four-time Cup champion Jeff Gordon. “I like the sandbox and I like to play in it, and I want to have the best opportunity to have the most fun in that sandbox.

“Sometimes, while you don’t always like it, you have to bite your tongue and go out and race.”

Jeff Burton said Thursday that the fine might have been an overreaction, and Gordon questioned whether the fine might backfire on NASCAR.

“I think we brought more light to the situation by the fine, and I question that,” Gordon said. “But at the same time, we are all in this together to grow this sport. … I didn’t even know about his comments until yesterday.”

NASCAR told drivers three years ago that they could be fined if they say things that denigrate the sport or the racing on the track.

“We’re all watching and learning as things unfold,” said five-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson. “We know that NASCAR is sensitive to some things, and that line is becoming more defined right now as to where that is and what type of criticism is allowed and what is not.”

After the race last week, Johnson said that winner Carl Edwards didn’t follow NASCAR’s restart policy and should have been penalized. He wasn’t censured or fined.

Defending Cup champion Brad Keselowski was called on the carpet by NASCAR officials at Daytona for criticizing NASCAR’s business model in an interview with USA Today. He wasn’t fined.

But Hamlin apparently struck a nerve with NASCAR, which has an entire marketing plan around the Gen-6 car.

Several drivers talked last week about the difficulty to pass with the new car, but none compared it to the former car, which never gained acceptance from fans at least in part, NASCAR officials believe, because of negative driver comments. Kyle Busch said the COT car “sucked” after winning the very first race with it at Bristol in 2007.

Keselowski, who was fined two years ago for negative comments about fuel ignition, said that “it would be foolish to ignore” the Hamlin penalty.

“As drivers, we carry a tremendous amount of weight with the things that we say and we always have to recognize that we can be a positive or negative influence,” Keselowski said.

“The trouble with that is it’s always a perception of what’s positive and what’s negative and I don’t think anyone really has an answer for that that is consistent.”

Gordon said he would not approach postrace interviews, any differently. Johnson said he might.

“We’ve all been encouraged to have an opinion and speak our minds about each other as drivers and certain topics,” Johnson said. “That old phrase, ‘actions detrimental to stock-car racing,’ that’s something that I’m going to try to keep top of mind.

“As my opinions come about, if it’s something that’s going to hurt our sport, and I think about it and it enters my mind, I probably need to keep my mouth shut and head over to the truck and talk it out in there instead of through microphones.”

The truck would be the NASCAR hauler, where drivers and competitors often wind up after running afoul of NASCAR. But Gordon said he thinks drivers as a group should have scheduled, private meetings with NASCAR officials. He said the timing on race weekends makes it difficult for drivers to go as a group into the NASCAR hauler.

NASCAR typically meets with drivers and team representatives during the preseason.

“Get the group of drivers together with NASCAR and just have some open discussions about what’s happening,” he said.

Gordon joked that eventually Hamlin will have to do a mea culpa.

“We are in Vegas, so we can try to count the odds of when the apology is coming and when the ‘we’re all in this together to grow this sport’ tweet is going to be coming,” Gordon said.

For now, there’s been no apology from Hamlin. And Keselowski said the drivers will be watching his appeal.

“It’s like a soap opera or a train wreck, and I think we’re all curious to see how it plays out,” Keselowski said.

“I don’t really have a dog in the fight. I really want everybody to win, and that is clearly not going to be possible.”